Judy's Articles

from The Jewish Journal of Greater Los Angeles
September 26, 2003

from The Canadian Jewish News
September 22, 2005

by Judy Bart Kancigor

When food writers Louise Fiszer and Jeannette Ferrary decided to collaborate on a Jewish cookbook, they wanted to include tasty, cherished holiday recipes that honor age-old traditions, yet were tailored to today’s busy, health-conscious cook. But as one traditional Jewish cook warned them, “Don’t do anything too weird…. Nobody wants to be eating experiments, especially on the High Holy Days.”

As they say, good things come in small packages, and now just in time for Rosh Hashanah comes “Jewish Holiday Feasts” (Chronicle Books), a charming little book, delightfully illustrated by Coco Masuda, now available in hard cover.

The 39 recipes are arranged by season and then by holiday. “The foods of all of these holidays are representative of the season,” Fiszer explained. “Plums don’t grow in the winter. My philosophy is cook what’s fresh and now. It will never taste better later.”

Where moms and grandmas of yesteryear spent days in the kitchen preparing for the holidays, today’s cooks look for simple recipes that rely on fresh ingredients. “I’ve been a cooking instructor for close to 30 years, and I can tell you,” said Fiszer, “everybody wants simplicity. The star chefs that teach - nobody goes home and makes those recipes. People love watching them cook, but students of cooking need to have simplicity.”

Fresh seasonal ingredients infuse traditional holiday fare to create memorable contemporary menus: Asparagus and Herbed Cheese Strudel for Shavuot, Rolled Turkey Breast with Mushroom-Spinach Stuffing for Passover, and for Hanukkah you’ll find Zucchini Latkes, Fresh Salmon Latkes, Cauliflower and Carrot Latkes and Sweet Cottage Cheese Latkes as well as the traditional Classic Potato.

The Orange County Register/Fullerton News Tribune
September 28, 2000

by Judy Bart Kancigor

It has been revered since Biblical times as a symbol of fertility, good health and immortality. Celebrated by King Solomon in the Song of Songs, this tangy, many-seeded fruit with its crimson-hued, leathery shell was abundant in the Garden of Eden and is even thought by some scholars to have been the real “apple” that tempted Eve.

For the Jewish people, the pomegranate has special significance on Rosh Hashanah as one of the special foods that serve as auspicious omens for the year to come. “The pomegranate is a powerful visual and sensory omen that we eat during the holiday time to remind us of the way we’re supposed to act,” said Laura Frankel, author of “Jewish Cooking for All Seasons” (Wiley, $34.95) a joyful, accessible celebration of Jewish cooking throughout the year.

“The seeds of the pomegranate supposedly add up to 613, if you took the time to count,” she said,

Here are some of Judy's articles and columns. Be sure to check out the recipes too! We'll be rotating them in time for every holiday.

You'll find reflections on the holidays by some of our favorite cookbook
authors and talented home cooks with some delicious menu ideas for
creating a memorable feast.

Passover begins at sundown Saturday, April 19

Orange County Register 4-17-08
Vibrant foods flavor the Passover feast

Canadian Jewish News April 2008
Making holiday memories

Hanukkah begins at sundown Tuesday, December 4.

OU Network: Shabbat Shalom 11-21-07
Hanukkah comes early this year and the potato latkes are ready

Canadian Jewish news 11-16-07
Chocolate for Hanukkah - why not?

Rosh Hashanah/Yom Kippur/Sukkot

OU Network: Shabbat Shalom 9-12-07
A harvest of recipes for Sukkot 5768

The Jewish Journal of Greater Los Angeles 9-9-07
Goodies that make you want to challah
Maggie Glezer: A Blessing of Bread
Tamar Ansh: A Taste of Challah

The Canadian Jewish News
September 21, 2006

by Judy Bart Kancigor

With the first crisp breeze at summer’s close, I am filled with memories. Color War and the end of camp. The smell of newly sharpened pencils. New school clothes, and for the High Holidays: new hat, new gloves, new dresses for each service. Smells of roasting chicken and honey cake wafting downstairs from my grandparents’ apartment, where Mama Hinda busily prepares her erev Rosh Hashanah feast for the onslaught of Rabinowitzes that will soon fill those tiny rooms.

In choosing a menu for the holiday, some traditional dishes beg for inclusion. Would it be Rosh Hashanah without Mama Hinda’s majestic spiraled challah or Aunt Sally’s tzimmes? But I also like to mix it up with some new twists on old themes as I explore the new cookbooks of the season.

One that catches my eye is “Divine Kosher Cuisine” by Risé Routenberg and Barbara Wasser (Wimmer), the long-awaited, all-volunteer fund-raising project of Congregation Agudat Achim in Niskayuna, New York.

Routenberg and Wasser draw on their years of experience with As You Like It, the synagogue’s kosher catering service, which for decades has been a magnet in the area for all events Jewish, garnering national attention in 2003 when it won the Gold Solomon Schecter Award.

“When we were catering a bar or bat mitzvah or a wedding, invariably people would come in the kitchen and beg us for a recipe for this or that dish,” said Wasser. “We would tell them we were thrilled they loved the dish, but we were really sorry, and promised that when Risé and I retired, we would write a cookbook.”